The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-02-12

furiously at Lirs merry, teasing laugh;
he had not picked up that comparison
from her work basket, she told him; it
had Scotch brogue to it. You'll have
to lend the Scotchman your experience,
Rob-" she ssid more seriously; fortunate
ly experience is an article that can be
borrowed without loss to the owner"
A few days after this conversation our
country girl had occasion to lend the
strangers not only her experience but her
own right arm. She had taken it into
her head to spend one of the fine after
moons fishing, more for the sake Of the
sweet air and the chance of a solitary
sunshiny dream, than because there were
any fish worth going after. So in stout
boots and one of Roberts wide brimmed
straw hats, she took her way to BROAD
Creek" as the small stream that passed
their farm was called.
Now Broad Greek had a very unrelia-
BILE character for depth and had to be
forded iudiciously, and Lily was good
deal startled, about the middle of the
afternoon, to see Alan McKenny driving
his sister and the children calmly into a
deep rough place all unconscious OF his
danger. Robert had told her that this
city man knew nothing about the man
agement Of horses, and it flashed upon
her at the moment that, as a matter of
course, he could not swim. 1t was too
late to warn him; the dog cart was al
ready midstream and the horse, feeling
the unusual swirl Of water about him,
stumbling over the rough bed, was plung-
ing dangerously, before Lii had gathered
herself up for action.
1t was the work of an instant to divest
herself of her dress-skirt, leaving only the
short striped petticoat to cucumber her
progress, and then Lilly plunged into the
water and in an instant was at the
horses head. The water proved not So
deep as she had feared; was in fact only
breast high, and although the current
was strong, her grip upon the bride rein
held her up, while her voice and hand
quieted the scared animal. Almost be-
fore the horses master knew his danger,
they were at the further bank, and his
rescuer had put herself deftly back into
her homespun petticoats.
A woman accepts safety gratefully from
any hand; not 80 a man. Alan McKenny
left his sisters to express their gratitude,
while he covered his chagrin with earnest
circumstances at Miss Ford's having risk
ed her own safety by her rash act. His
tone implied what his words left unsaid,
that the risk had been unnecessarily run.
"Oh, I was pining for chance to play
the heroine" said Lilly, with an airy
hghtness of tone, quite unknown to the
downright Scot. off," she added, laugh
ing, zone can possibly be heroic in wet
petticoats."
But if it had been his notifying lot to
have woman manage bis horse, the
young man now showed his ability to
manage the woman. Lily was crowded,
willy -nilly, into the dog cart, and literally
wound up from head to foot in long
Scotch plaid. "And to keep off the cold"
she said, as she unwound herself before
her mothers kitchen fire, 'that conten-
tious Scotchman quarreled with me all
the way home; ungrateful fellowr'
Perhaps Alan McKenny still feared the
effect of the dip in Broad Greek upon his
fair neighbor; at all events, he kept up
by frequent visits the gentle friction of in
cessant argument and contention. Robert
and the young widow did all that two
quiet people could to keep the peace, but
in vain. The battle ragged along all lines of
that could be started; slav-
cry, the war question, Ireland's wrongs,
England's rights, everything, in short,
except practical matters. On all ques-
lions of putting up pork, housing cattle,
keeping winter apples and such matters,
Alan listened to his pretty enemy with
unquestioning respect. Indeed he SEEM
ed to prefer her tutelage to her brothers
and Robert was fain to put up with the
widow for entertainment.
II don't know how you stand our new
neighbor SO patiently, my DEAR" said
Mrs. Ford, rathec anxiously; 81 am afraid
he is fractions fellow"
"Oh, I like good honest quarrel"
said Lily, it is pleasant variety in my
hum-drum life"
The word had slipped out without the
girls realizing it's association; but who
could forget, even in five years, that sad,
June evening, the glorious moonlight, the
vehement discussion, the dear old saints
quiet speech, and Lily's words: 81 choose
the hum drum life" That Lily herself
had not forgotten, was shown by the
sudden color that overspread her coun-
tenance. That her mother and brother
also remembered, was told by their quick
glance at her, and then at one another.
Had the call to something higher come,
as the grandmother said? 1t was even so;
and while the October sunshine was
lighting up the world, the Scotchman's
love for Lily was clarifying her hum
drum life with sheen beyond the COM
prehension of her friends.
"Who would have thought that my
everyday sort of a girl would go over
board SO completely" was Roberts puz-
zled comment. of it had been Rose,